Hey HW, my initial thought about the de Haan signing is that Canes seemed to give a lot of term for a guy missing a lot of the last season with a shoulder injury. 4 years at 4.55 million. Adds nice depth to the Canes defence if the shoulder is ok. In terms of the Canucks, Hughes and Juelevi play on the left side and we have a bunch of others on the left too. Plus, if I was a free agent at this point the Canucks would be a lot farther down on my list so I am not sure he would have been interested in the Canucks in any event. Do you know if Benning put in an offer?

So given this thread, what does everyone think of the da Haan signing.

I like it for the Canes for a few reasons. Probably a bit overpaid but not by much, the term is fine for a 27 year old guy and I like the fact there’s no trade protection. He’s 18 months younger than Roussel who got the same term but De Haan has some injury concerns, so assuming he checks out its a decent signing. De Haan is a 3/4 dman on most teams in this league. I would have taken him for the same money and same term as he’s a better player than Del Zotto who is likely out equivalent on the left side.

The big thing for them is they can now trade Faulk or one of their other dmen for futures or a player they want now for their roster. They have lots of flexibility and a desirable asset to move.

If Jimbo does the same with the logjam of players we have on the roster I will be much more enthused by our own signings. It’s the biggest reason why I say we have to wait for the other shoe to drop before we judge what they did on July 1st.

I wonder, if Hughes or Juolevi show they are ready for the NHL who gets moved? Would be nice to get a few more assets in the hopper for this year’s draft.

As far as I know Benning did not put an offer in for de Haan. I know his agent reached out but I think it’s clear given what we have already, the room we have to clear anyway, de Haan wasn’t a serious consideration for Benning.